Let’s Never Forget our Volunteers – Jimmy Young by Jack Coll
November 10, 2016
The Front Page By Jack Coll
November 17, 2016Leon Russell Rocked Conshohocken! RIP.
11/16/2016
Leon Russell Rocked the Conshohocken A Field
(in the early 70’s)
This is something we posted in our Hall of Fame section of the website a couple of years ago:
Events Hall of Fame
Leon Russell
WIBG’S FREE SUMMER ROCK & ROLL MYSTERY CONCERT
AS THE POSTER ADVERTISEMENT QUOTED
“Monday, August 9th, three Solid Hours of Guaranteed Entertainment with
LEON RUSSELL and The Shelter People
Featuring Freddy King in the “First”
FREE LEON RUSSELL CONCERT IN THE PHILADELPHIA AREA.
Keep Listening To WIBG For Clues……….And Guess The Location!”
It was the summer of 1971 the music scene was changing, and Leon Russell was an up and coming star in the business, he was considered the ultimate Rock & Roll session man. Leon worked with Jerry Lee Lewis, Phil Spector and the Rolling Stones. Leon also worked with Delaney and Bonnie, Joe Cocker and played with George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh along with B. B. King, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan.
Leon was riding the popularity of “Jumpin Jack Flash” and would later hit the charts with “Tight Rope,” and “Lady Blue.” The Conshohocken Fellowship House Director Al Donofrio was the man behind the concert, Al felt the young people in Conshohocken needed something outside of sports activities that was being offered by the Fellowship House. When Donofrio was approached by Rick Buckley, the 35 year old owner of WIBG Radio, about a rock & roll show, this kind of fit into something he was looking for.
The location of the concert was kept a secret by WIBG, never revealing the exact location of the concert, but gave out clues to the “A” Field location over the air. The station kept the location a secret because they had 500,000 listeners at the time and didn’t want too many teenagers showing up and overwhelming the borough.
Well that strategy failed as the headline from the “Evening Bulletin” declared “Rock Show by Leon Russell Attracts 30,000 to Stadium in Conshohocken.” It was really more like 20,000 teenagers and young adults from five states. Traffic was tied up, bumper to bumper on Fayette Street from 11th Avenue into West Conshohocken and beyond including all the side streets, and going up from 11th Avenue back to the Ridge, including the Ridge, and onto Germantown Pike including the pike. Cars were parked on residents lawns, double parked on the avenues and police were brought in from surrounding communities.
Al Donofrio was some-what surprised by the event, but members of Borough Council were fully surprised by the event as they knew nothing about it, a little something Donofrio forgot to inform them about. And so the council circus began, they demanded that Al Donofrio be fired, fined $100.00 for breaking the borough ordinance, or even jailed for 30 days.
The members of Borough Council floated the idea of forever banning Rock & Roll concerts in the borough of Conshohocken for all time. (A-la “Foot Loose”) Cooler heads prevailed when young people showed up at the council meeting in defense of Al Donofrio.
We here at Conshystuff.com believe that Donofrio didn’t fail to inform the council that the concert was going to be held, remember, Donofrio was one hundred percent in charge of giving permits for the use of the “A” Field, but perhaps decided not to inform the council! We also believe that Donofrio was a man who was very much in touch with our youth, and the concert was in fact Al Donofrio’s finest moment in the borough of Conshohocken.
In the end the police from Conshohocken and surrounding communities reported little to no disturbances, and actually reported that concert goers, most of them barefooted, behaved very well, although they couldn’t figure out where that funny smell in the air was coming from.
August 9, 1971 was the largest event ever held in Conshohocken, not likely to be out-done anytime soon, Al Donofrio and Leon Russell truly put on a Rock & Roll, Conshohocken Hall of Fame Event!
